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The Enviroment Of Anime Blogging: Does it Matter?

A somewhat brief examination of environment, the types, and if it has bearing on the content Anime bloggers produce.

Note: This a rewrite of a previous post with slightly more detail on the subject matter.

Picking up Anime Blogging as a hobby is undoubtedly the best thing I could of ever did for myself and thanks to it, I have began to see it in a different light than I have previously. My ideas even seem easier to synthesize (expect lacking polishing), but with that said, I am still not free from some of the basic constraints which does tend to make the quality of my work suffer. It could be a number of various reasons, but instead of trying to pick them out among things like: time, energy, interest, state of mind, etc – I do believe it could center around a bigger culprit: Environment. Who is to say that the experiences that we have and the lives that we lead do not play a key factor? Could something like habits – the way you live even affect the quality of work you can produce or the way you choose to do it…? Getting slightly ahead of myself, so think I will explain the two different type of “environments”.

Immediate environment is the exact space where you are and the place where you are at the most when you write. Whether it be the comfort of your own room or your favorite cafe, the immediate environment “usually” can dictate what kind of quality of work you will produce. I say usually due to many people being able to do their best under any types of conditions while others of us (myself included sometimes) are conditioned or need a specific mold to work in, but not limited to. For example, I can say that I am very conformable with writing Anime reviews, but for a post of this manner, I have to stay focus and most of the time recline in my bed where I can muse and mediate on everything that I write or think of. It is just difficult to a degree doing it at my desk opposed to a place where I am naturally at ease. With that said, the immediate environment can also be said to be “constructed” to the person’s preferences and taste; more simply put, it is a place that we can control most of the time. This would be in regards to things like cleanliness, natural noise (tv, radio, etc), lighting, and other minuet things. Their are more nuances and the like to this rule, but the listed paints the gist of what I mean.

As for the second, personal environment, it is just what it sounds like: All the factors that personally involve you and how they relate toward you. To name a few of these traits it would be things like: lifestyle habits, personality, time, demographically setting, etc. This is probably one of the most flighty aspects when it comes to blogging, since it deals with things you have little to no control over or usually have a hard time trying to control. So for example, if you live in the city opposed to someone that lives in country; the level of work you will produce will differ from that other individual. However, do not misunderstand me – by no means do I mean that one is better than the other or can produce better post. That is not what I mean at all, but simply mean that lifestyle habits and ways of life – perspectives of personal environments lead different people from different walks of life and lifestyles to produce material how they see fit. Simply put (again), diversity of lifestyles grant diversity of material produced. Since a majority of us lead different lives and time effects us in different ways, whether we hold jobs, go to school, both, or whatever – inspiration, ideas, etc can strike us at different moments and the settings we are in affect this.

To put this all into perspective and terms easier to understand I will use myself as an example. This is just a general outline:

“Leaving out a few bits of information (for the sake of simplicity) I see myself as average twenty-one year old currently making my way through college to earn my degree. While my schedule is flexible and work load fairly rigorous, I still have free time during the weekends to write – where my immediate environment is kept semi-clean and neat. I have minor distractions and my personal environment outside my home (neighborhood) is moderately quiet and peaceful.”

Even though this is not a very fine tuned example of what I mean, if you think about what I have written and how it relates to you adding in things like writing style, your analysis skills (are you more macro or micro or both), time management skills, other hobbies, etc – it will make more sense than you can imagine.

The terms immediate and personal environment are terms I sort of coined and came up with myself, so maybe they are not the correct or best way to tackle the subject I mediated upon, but does bring up food for thought so speak. After all, Anime blogs and the people behind them are not homogeneously alike – we all are different. With different personalities, ways of thinking, ways of living, and other factors to minuet to mention them all, it is somewhat proof to the diversity of content Anime blogs come up with. In many ways, it might be the “environment” that helps or hindrances the writer – yet, I might be over thinking…again.

21 thoughts on “The Enviroment Of Anime Blogging: Does it Matter?”

I don’t think you’re over thinking this, I agree to what was being discussed here for the most part. I personally have a preferred space and time to write my posts and I also think current lifestyle situation affects the quality of a post. Besides that, other interests a blogger may have besides anime also have influence over what sort of post is produced. What we’re exposed to often can be used as references in blog posts.

Outside interest, darn forgot to mention that one, but that is a very key one for the personal section I think. For example for me: I do like Golf and getting outside to play it (when the weather is favorable) brings up some very good ideas – although, I learned I need to carry around a notebook with me so I do not forget them. Lifestyle habits however, I believe are the most important.

It is sometimes a very good thing with less residents or well, not having a lot of ruckus and moving going around. I can concrete moderately well the TV on (since most of the time I am the news), but other than that, I can not stand a lot of noise that I can not control. Thankfully, my neighborhood is becoming a whole lot less noisy XD

I guess I could describe my immediate environment as a comfortable mess. Kinda like, others see things in disarray, while I see it as organized enough to know where everything is. I usually do my blogging on my desktop, which has its own room in a pseudo-study, that is used only by me most of the time.

As for my personal environment, time management has never been one of my strong points, so I usually end up blogging slightly early or really late on the weekends – less things to worry about in that time, as supposed to afternoon errands and/or schoolwork.

My immediate environment would be my work desk. With all the mess and everything, and of course My G15. For some odd reason i can type as fast as sonic on my own keyboard but very slowly on other keyboards. Even my wife’s laptop.

and as for the personal environment, i have no issues since i run a diner. I get to it, help around and afterwards just get back to my house and enjoy.

So basically, in a nutshell, i’m a (now) 28 years old diner owner, with a wife and kid who shares the same love for anything anime/manga related. I write on a daily basis, or sometimes 2 days. Work never gets me down, nor have i feel tired of it. There’re lots of joy from seeing people eating, hear them talk on the table with their family and loved ones. Watching all the heads turn once a bombshell enters the diner (and seeing their lover and spouses stealthily pinch them somewhere it hurts because their face turn from “whoa” to “OW!” in just a few seconds). I dunno, i can’t explain it. To me life’s a bitch, no really life is a bitch, but i never been bothered by it. I just kept rolling. I never pursue happiness, i just simply enjoy it and make the most of it.

My dad used to run a restaurant a long time ago and I used to help out with cooking, tables, etc. Although, I was underage back then (12 or so), but no one knew about it. Had to help my mom, since was the only up their at the time. Doubt I could do it day, but I would like to own business of similar nature – since it is somewhat fulfilling.

Wow, no car? You must either walk, ride the bus, or cycle wherever you need to be, right? At least you do not have fork out extra for gas money and such.

Interesting post. Environment is something that could effect us when we write a post. It’s the same thing to me as when I study. The environment has to be less noisy or without any noise at all. My workplace has always been clean and tidy, so I guess that is not a problem for me. Luckily I don’t stay at my university hostel any more. I could not imagine writing an episodic review with all my friend bugging me. I also have a schedule to when I start watching and posting my stuff. Each day it is the same thing unless there is too much assignments to do.

Same here. Well, price was also an issue as well as proximity, but glad I got away from the dorm life, yet being home is not so much better either. Good thing is that it does allow me to relax and be me and able to do what I want more freely, but that is about it. If you can keep a schedule, then I would say you are doing very well for your management skills. Me, no such luck XD

Home is pretty much the best as long as you have the essentials. Though, it never hurts when you are out and about with a few slow minutes to jot down a few things. I do it rarely, unless I am on my time doing something like playing golf, taking grandmother to store, etc.

My environment is really important to me when I’m doing something, I can’t do anything if my place is messy because it feels like it’s blocking my ease of mind. But I guess aside from that, hobbies outside the anime scope vastly influence the ideas that you want to tie-in with your writing–like an internal environment, the landscape of your mind.

Does not feel the same for some people (myself included) trying to work when it is messy, right? Definitely does affect your state of mind. Yeah, my other hobbies outside of Anime help to some extent as well, but rarely can I tie them in, so well with the subject matter. Hmm…like the landscape association. Nice ^^

When it comes to environment my situation is less than ideal really. I live in a house that’s too small for my family so most of the time it’s kinda rowdy. However I get a bit of peace and quiet some times and it’s then when I do most of the stuff I do.

I’m the opposite of you when it comes to thinking it seems. I just can’t stand still when I’m thinking about something. I tend to pace around the house when I’m coming up with an Idea. So much so that I constantly get told to sit down because it’s making people dizzy hahaha.

Wow, can only imagine that. However, you still are able to produce some quality work, so does not seem to be hurting you that much – it might take you little longer and if so, I know feeling all to well.

Lol, yeah, pacing does not work as well as it used to for me. I usually begin to “type” in my head and usually by the time I get back to my keyboard, I have my neat sentence twisted and turned around XD

I don’t have a particular space for my creative juices to get flowing. I tend to either to come up with ideas either by talking about some related topic, consuming other media, or just a spark out of the blue.

For the photo taking part or the actual writing of the post though I always go to my ever so loved Touhou playlist on YouTube filled with various arrangements.

I suppose the actual physical location is not so much important to me.

Very lucky if you do not have the physical anchors, but media is a helpful tool in itself. Think I can agree with the Touhou arrangements. Often times have Demetori or ~Xion~ playing on winamp (or tuned Great Baroness radio that also plays a lot of Touhou arrangements) and that sort helps getting things started for the most part.

Hmmm. I don’t think I would have too many problems with blogging from outside the house (except privacy issues, of course), but I don’t think I’ll ever get the chance, as I pretty much exclusively do series reviews, which can take anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 or 3 hours (depending on the show). And the way I see it, if I’m somewhere other then home (friend’s house, workplace, etc.), then I’m probably too busy to be blogging. As for my immediate environment…it doesn’t really matter to me. I can be warm, cold, in a quiet place, in a loud place, or in a messy room, and I won’t really feel unable to write (although if it’s too cold, my fingers go numb and I have trouble typing). I don’t really mind being interrupted, and in fact i sometimes like to take self-imposed breaks. Stopping, moving around a little, and coming back to what you’ve written and reviewing it is almost never a *bad* idea (unless, of course, you have trouble motivating yourself). But no, I don’t really have a special place I like to write from. As long as its fairly private and moderately comfortable, I’ll be able to work there.